Page 64 of Earl's Well That Ends Well (The Way to a Lord's Heart 5)

“I found the place just where you said,” Tom continued with a nod to her. “And I went sneaking around the walls in the dark.” He grimaced. “They’re closed up tight as a drum. Not so high you can’t climb ’em, mind. But whoever lives there has dogs. Meanest looking dogs I’ve ever seen. They were onto me soon as I put a leg over the top of that wall. I had to jump and run.”

“You promised to be careful!” exclaimed the señora.

“I was. Nobody saw me.”

“They might have chased after you. You can’t outrun dogs.”

Tom shook his head. “They stay behind the walls. I asked at the nearest villages the next day. Just like I was wanting work, you know. Offering to lend a hand with deliveries and such, so’s I could get a look inside that way. But the grocer told me they unload everything at the back gate and carry it onward theirselves. It’s made the neighborhood right curious about ’em.”

“So it’s not going to be easy to get in,” said Arthur.

“We have to find a way past the guardsandthe dogs,” Tom replied.

“Mr. Rigby made some inquiries,” said Señora Alvarez. “He has heard of men, from among the sort of people he knows, hired for a job in the country. Men with few scruples, he said.”

“Rigby said ‘scruples’?” Tom asked, raising his eyebrows.

It didn’t sound like the pub keeper, Arthur thought.

“Well, no,” said their hostess with a slight smile. “But his meaning was clear.”

“Not men you want to cross,” said Tom.

She nodded. “And according to what Mr. Rigby heard, the pay is very good.”

“Some’ll do just about anything for money. Whatever they’re ordered.”

“Those who care only for money can be…repurchased,” Arthur pointed out.

“That’s so.” Tom looked more cheerful.

“I have put a name to the man you followed,” said Arthur to Señora Alvarez. “The clues you gathered from the other dancers and the redoubled efforts of Tom’s friends led me to a young sprig called Lord Simon Farange.”

“Bella sneaked a look at him after you sent me word,” Tom put in. “He’s the one took Jeanne out driving.”

Arthur nodded; he had already heard this. “He is the third son of the Duke of Yarbridge,” he continued. “I am acquainted with his father. A harsh man. Perhaps because the family is in decline. They have lost most of their lands to gambling and poor management. Lord Simon is not prominent in society. He receives few invitations because his behavior cannot be…relied upon.”

“And because he doesn’t have a fortune to make all smooth,” said Señora Alvarez.

“Indeed,” Arthur acknowledged. “He is renowned for his ill temper and dissipation. Many wonder how he can afford his current indulgences. It is assumed that he is heavily in debt.”

“Ripe for mischief then,” said Tom.

“In many different ways.” Arthur pressed his lips together in distaste. “I tracked him down at a gaming hell last night. He was well into his cups and quite surprised to be addressed by me. I doubt he will remember much of our conversation, which I found most unpleasant.”

“Did you ask him about that house?” Tom wondered.

“I couldn’t trust he wasthatdrunk,” Arthur replied. “Our exchange was more general, an effort to feel him out. I judge Lord Simon to be utterly self-centered. He cares nothing for others, and he treats those below him on the social scale as scarcely human. Opera dancers are no more than playthings for men like him. He feels that he has the right to do whatever he pleases with them or indeed anyone he can gain power over.”

“I am familiar with the type,” the señora said.

Arthur could hear the disgust in her voice. “Fortunately, I did not find him very intelligent,” he added.

Tom gave a snort of laughter.

“I don’t think he will be any use to us,” Arthur went on. “Any overtures from me would bewilder him and rouse suspicions even in his thick head. I am of his father’s generation, and they are bitterly at odds.”

“Don’t sound like he would think much of me neither,” said Tom.

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